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Experienced sudden Vertigo followed by vomit. It turned out to be Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). I turned my head sharply to right in bed to avoid collision with my big dog Charlie jumping up on me. It's his ritual to wake me up if I'm still in bed past 6:00AM. Unfortunately it caused some particle (natural part of inner ear) to fall into horizontal canal (balancing). I felt like being on a roller coaster ride falling down into the abyss. It turned out to be benign and the doctor fixed me by "clinical maneuver", basically jerking my head around. So after so many pukes later I'm fine now and count my blessing. Have a happy and healthy year!

It turned out to be benign and the doctor fixed me by "clinical maneuver", basically jerking my head around. So after so many pukes later I'm fine now and count my blessing.

Glad to hear that you are OK... Indeed, count your blessings, as it can be so much worse:

My wife had/has something similar in terms of symptoms, called Chronic Labyrinthitis, which was caused by permanent damage from an infection of the inner ear. Bedridden for months (lost her job of course) and unable to drive for ~3 years, it took a very long time to get back to a basically normal life. That was only possible due to finding the right specialist team (thank you Mass. General in Boston) that offered some prospect for recovery, which was via neurological exercises to train her mind to compensate for the fact that her inner ear is basically sending gibberish back to her brain.

It is now 15+ years later and still she can only drive on two lane roads, so that if a sudden dizzy spell hits she can pull over without having to cut across traffic. She avoids elevators like the plague.

Glad to hear that your experience with this was mercifully brief!

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"...when you do practice properly, it seems to take no time at all. Just do it right five times or so, and then stop." -- JimF

Tallguy, I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your wife. It would have been terrible if the symptoms did not go away. Yes I count my blessing. Jim, thank you for the pic. Charlie is feeling bad. I love him no matter what.

Tubbie, what a productive session you had. You are amazing guy. I've been thinking of you since I started Violin two months ago. My husband picked up viola and I thought I would do violin to keep company. My violin is horrible. So terrible that both dogs leave the room as soon as i start practicing violin! You play both instruments very well.

Week 96:: my left hand complains more, so it is very light week of practice. I have been doing the Coursera, Write Like Mozart. However, lesson five was much longer than I expected, so I haven't completed my assignment yet.

Non-piano related, but possibly beneficial is a new mattress. It is memory foam, and may help with my chronic back issues and poor sleep patterns. Another positive is a return to yoga class. Yoga will help with the many minor aches and pains as well as with tension.

The string instruments are amazing! It's great you decided to give it a go. Don't worry about the sound for now. Pay attention to your violin hold and bow hold. Make sure they are as tense-less as possible, especially the shoulders and wrists (but not so relaxed that everything becomes floppy). Learning the violin will push your problem-solving skills to a whole new level. Keep it up and all the best!

What book(s) are you using at the moment and are you taking lessons from a violin teacher?

Tubbie - yes we have a wonderful teacher now. He is already our second violin teacher. The first one was less than desirable. She did not teach us how to hold violin etc and just told us to play the 1st piece in the book. We were making those scratchy bad sound and she just marked it "very good" with dates. After the lesson I asked around for a better teacher and switched the current one. He has masters degree in performance, played in orchestra (still does as a part time) and currently pursuing engineering degree at Arizona State University. We have Suzuki book and Essential Elements for strings which we were told to buy by our first teacher. As you mentioned he is helping me with violin and bow hold and posture. I'm working on string crossing without tensing up my shoulders. I will PM you (since this us piano forum) when I have questions. Let me if you have some recommendations for beginner pieces too! Thank you.

That's fantastic FarmGirl! The first teacher sounded really unhelpful (a cheat if I must say). I started with Suzuki book 1 -4 before switching to the Australian syllabus. If I haven't play the violin for a while, I always warm up with my Suzuki pieces, sometime even starting with Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars!

I have my problems and bad habits with violin playing too, but I am happy to help where I can. I hope this piano forum is "large" enough to embrace violin discussion topics too :-)

I've been slacking i missed TWO entire days of practice. I won't give up tho. Just gotta fixed up my poor lesson last week this week!

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"Doesn't practicing on the piano suck?!?!""The joy is in the practicing. It's like relationships. Yeah, orgasms are awesome, but you can't make love to someone who you have no relationship with!"

Shure she talks to you. She stops making screeching noises when you make her feel good.

EDIT: To put it a little more basic and blunt. If you feel nervous, or tense. Is it impossible to get that violin to play a good note? No matter what you do?

You can still make a "decent" sound on the violin (if you are good enough to cover it), but it tend to not last, and you tend to avoid a certain "risky" sections of the bow. You'd also tend to avoid shifting to higher positions where possible to avoid poor intonation. Having these limitations will of course make the overall performance not as good as if you are able to play free of nervousness and tension.

A violin is a violin. As much as we want to believe it has "human" feelings and behaviours, it's just a violin. It being made of wood and many intricate parts make it vulnerable to temperate and humidity. So there will be times when even if you are "in the zone", you still can't put on your best performance. But thinking the violin (or piano or whatever instrument) has a "feelings" of its own makes it convenient for players to blame the instrument when things go wrong.

Ragdoll, I am afraid to starting the video to see what's on (sorry I have very dirty mind). I do practice in bathrooms. My husband takes guest bathrooms I take ours. The reason? you can check your violin and bow hold.

ElleC - congrats for your forum birthday!

Wisebuff - Yeah we love them no matter what they do. News! Charlie (again) have been liking to put his head on the pedal and sleep. I discovered this morning that one of the wood support of the pedal came off! expensive dog. He is too heavy for that (95lb). i have to lock him up when I practice.